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Greywacke Sauvignon Blanc 2012

We have decided to use our first informative wine blog to tell you a little about one of our favourite new wines. Greywacke Sauvignon Blanc 2012 is the flagship wine from one of Marlborough’s pioneer winemakers, Kevin Judd. Greywacke was created in 2009 by Kevin Judd, chief winemaker at Cloudy Bay from its inception for 25 years and instrumental in the international recognition which Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc enjoys now. The name ‘Greywacke’ was adopted by Kevin for his first Marlborough vineyard located in Rapaura in recognition of the high prevalence of rounded greywacke river stones in the soils of the vineyard, a sedimentary rock which is widely found in Marlborough.

Kevin Judd

Kevin Judd's career is intrinsically linked with the global profile of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. Kevin was born in England and grew up in Australia, where he studied winemaking at Roseworthy College and first made wine at Reynella in South Australia. He moved to New Zealand in 1983 and joined Selaks Wines. Subsequently, he became the founding winemaker at Cloudy Bay, a pivotal role during which he directed the company’s first 25 vintages. In 2009 he established his own label, Greywacke, named after New Zealand’s prolific bedrock.

The Name

New Zealand does not have a designated national rock, but if one was ever chosen it would have to be greywacke (pron: grey-wacky). This drab grey stone is found everywhere in New Zealand – on the mountains, in the rivers, on the beaches. It consists of layers of hard, muddy grey sandstone alternating with thinner layers of darker mudstone (argillite). Technically the term greywacke refers to the sandstone (wacke is a German name for a type of sandstone), but it is also used as a general term for the entire rock. Kevin Judd is also New Zealand’s finest wine photographer and has recently published ‘The Landscape of New Zealand Wine’, a large format, hardback book showcasing the best of his vineyard photography from throughout the country’s wine regions.

The Wine

They say that nostalgia isn't what it used to be, but this wine certainly brings back happy memories of the early days of Cloudy Bay, which isn’t surprising, given that Kevin Judd was chief winemaker there for 25 years. This is his second vintage of Greywacke and although it is refreshingly dry, it nonetheless has a discreetly impressive concentration of ripe, succulent fruit which, in its reluctance to try and win you over straight away with caricature flavours, gives the wine a retrained power, like a garrulous person forced to be silent in a library. A tangy, salsa-like combination of honeydew melon, yellow peach and pawpaw tossed with some red capsicum, a sprig of spicy tomato leaf and a twist of grapefruit zest - this is an intensely aromatic, mouth-filling wine with a refreshingly crisp, flinty finish.

‘This fulfils every expectation for Judd’s first wine, crystal-bright in colour, mouthfilling and steeped in grapefruit and stone fruit, its concentration surely reflecting low-yielding vines. The striking texture comes from a barrel-fermented portion, and the overall richness is balanced by lingering juicy acidity.’

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